A qualitative study was conducted to assess the nursing students’ experiences of their clinical practice at one public university in Sarawak, Malaysia. Purposive sampling was used to recruit nine undergraduate nursing degree students at a medical faculty. An in-depth interview based on an open-ended questionnaire was used to collect data. The open-ended questionnaire was used to assess the students’ expectation, feelings, challenging experiences related to work culture, knowledge and skills in patient care, teaching learning supports, people interpersonal relationship, students’ role and their coping mechanism in clinical practice. Data were analysed using content analysis approach facilitated by Nvivo software (Version 8.) The themes emerged from the data analysis included (a) Gaining insight into the reality of clinical working environment and (b) challenges. The subthemes illustrated the students’ challenges were interpersonal relationship with people at the work place, different ward environment, theorypractice gap and insufficient clinical practice, and anxiety. The participants also reported experiencing anxiety due to challenges; however, after a period of time, they learnt to cope with them. The students were able to use different coping mechanism such as internal and external motivation, and this increased their confidence as they progressed in their learning. The learning difficulties faced by nursing students during clinical placement show that a supportive learning environment is important. This study proposed practical strategies to empower students in clinical learning and increase their self-esteem and confidence. In order to improve quality of students’ clinical education, adequate and effective work collaboration between nursing education and health care services are recommended. Future research should focus on how to create a supportive clinical learning environment in local setting
This qualitative descriptive study, underpinned by naturalistic inquiry, explored the prehospital emergency medical service response time in Klang Valley by providing an in-depth information of the phenomenon. In this study, various levels of health care personnel participated in focus group discussion and semi-structured interview. The staff members consisted of many levels of category from the lower ranks up to the higher level administrative officers. Content analysis was employed in analysing all data. Every one of the key informants was aware of the importance of making immediate responses to each ambulance call received. They shared their thoughts, experiences, and challenges in achieving the ideal response time in line with international recommendations. There were five categories of issues that emerged and challenges that arose from delays in response time, namely, 1) insufficient key information; 2) inconsistent information leading to delayed arrival of ambulance; 3) traffic condition causing delay in ambulance speed; 4) lack of resources contributing to an increase in workload; and, 5) unassertiveness in the attitude of members of staff. The findings have provided an answer to the society with regard to the current pre-hospital emergency medical service issues related to delay in the service delivered. Thus, policy makers and pre-hospital health care service providers should develop a strategic action plan by focusing on these findings to reduce the response time of ambulance call.
This study was conducted to identify the practices of Malay chefs in preparing traditional Malay dishes at hotels in the Klang Valley. In addition, this study aimed to identify the level of knowledge and practices of these chefs with regard to traditional cooking and to analyse how the knowledge could be passed on to the younger generation of Malay chefs. In reality, these practices and traditions which include the practices in food preparation, skills and cooking techniques to maintain the authenticity and sustainability of the traditional Malay cuisine are slowly being neglected, especially among those in the hotel industry. The younger generation of Malay chefs no longer seems to take pride in the traditional way of cooking. In addition, the use of processed food in Malay kitchens is very common today. In order to achieve the aims of the study, a qualitative research was conducted. Chefs at various hotels in the Klang Valley were interviewed to determine their current practices. The findings showed that the techniques of cooking traditional Malay foods have been tainted with modern culinary techniques due to a lack of exposure and knowledge in traditional Malay cuisine. In general, traditional cooking methods are viewed as outdated, obsolete and not in accordance to modernisation. By conforming to the style of cooking with modern equipment and technology, this has indirectly altered the prevailing practices of the traditional food preparation in hotels.
The problem in analysing qualitative study is regularly highlighted when it comes to data analysis process. Unlike quantitative data that deals with numerical and statistical issues, analysing qualitative data requires the researcher to deal with understanding human experiences and interpreting the data. Therefore, validity and reliability of the analysis are often questioned and becomes a challenge in analysing data from qualitative research. The objective of this writing is to highlight some of the challenges and strengths in the qualitative research process. Validity, reliability, and credibility are among the challenges in analysing qualitative study. Rigor in conducting data collection helps in overcoming the problem in validity, reliability and credibility. In addition, in-depth understanding and triangulation techniques such as interview, document analysis and observation used in qualitative researches are among the strengths for qualitative study.
Despite the reported limitations of the qualitative research in comparison to other methodologies, we contend that the common criticisms against it are too often using criteria explicitly analogous to quantitative reasoning. We critically analysed the reported limitations of qualitative research in the literature to deconstruct the conflicting discourses that enable an understanding of their subjectivity. Also, we provide a philosophical justification that both qualitative and quantitative methodologies are appropriate for studying a different form of reality. Lincoln and Guba’s four principles for determining the quality of qualitative research rigour along with confirmability, transferability, credibility and dependability are deemed appropriate rather than the commonly employed internal and external validity, reliability and objectivity. Finally, we argued that a widespread use of a different standard for judging the quality of qualitative research consequential to its philosophical stance is the panacea for the unfair criticisms in the future.
Simulated Patient (SP) is defined as a layperson that simulates to portray the role of a patient with health-related conditions based on varying levels of training. International Medical University (IMU) has been utilising SP for more than 10 years for simulation activities including learning sessions and examination. Due to a series of complex interaction within the SP programme, the aim of the study was to explore the experience of lecturer, student and SPs towards the interaction within the SP programme. The findings of the research were aimed to improve the teaching sessions and examination through the improvement of the SP programme. A total of 17 participants were recruited for 6 interviews, including both focus group and one-to-one interview session. The researcher used a list of guide questions to explore both positive and negative experiences. Manual transcribing and coding technique were used for data analysis, while Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) was used for data management and additional analysis. The themes for the lecturer group were: SP resemble a real patient, The making of scenario, and SP feedback; while the themes for the students group were: Simulated patient as an effective learning tool, Fairness, and Feedback from simulated patient; whereas Effective learning session, Motivation and Preparation prior class were the themes for the SP group. SPs’ contribution was valuable if the SP is able to resemble a real patient and able to demonstrate effective feedback skills. Standardisation of the character portrayal and SP feedback influenced the fairness along the students’ journey. Lecturers, SPs and students influenced the success of an SP-based simulation session.
The research interview is a common method of choice for collecting data, particularly within the qualitative research tradition. This is because it lends well to the emergent nature and exploratory aims of qualitative research. Detailed accounts of what and how things happened, and who was involved, that is elaborate stories, can be located in interview responses. This is irrespective of whether or not the stories were deliberately elicited or regardless of the methodological stance adopted by the researcher. The ubiquity of stories therein signals the need for researchers using qualitative interviews to be cognizant of the narratives surrounding these stories and the analytical value they hold in their research. This paper presents the philosophical underpinnings and strategy of narrative inquiry, and illustrates how methods of collection and analysis can be shaped in concert with the methodology
The learning curve for doing a good qualitative study is steep because qualitative methodologies are often vague and lack explicit steps. We detail the formulation of the grounded theory approach in a study of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus who made decisions while strategizing their treatment types. This undertaking is to demonstrate how this systematic and yet flexible methods contributed to the understanding of the issue we were investigating. The process from deciding on research objectives and research questions, follow with systematic process for data collection and analysis allows us to generate a substantive theoretical model. By paying critical attention to theoretical saturation, grounded theory approach enabled us to construct all possible explanatory concepts related to decision making in strategizing diabetes treatment. We also describe the challenges throughout the whole research journey, including getting permission to interview patients, gaining the trust of research participants and staying open to the participants’ views.
This paper describes the Malaysian car owners’ preference to purchase their car through car lease swap arrangement. Since owning a car nowadays is a necessity for most individuals, people will try to find the easiest and fastest way to own a car. Hence, the aim of this paper is to describe the issues of car lease swap businesses conducted in Malaysia, in particular to understand the reasons, business mechanism, and benefits of buying a car via this method. Due to limited empirical studies on car lease swap arrangement in Malaysia, the research adopted a qualitative approach, which utilises the snowball method to identify its participants. Interviews were conducted with relevant parties, who were directly involved in car lease swap business, which include the car lease dealers, the car owners and third parties (buyers). The findings indicate that the car lease dealers were the most to gain out of this business, meanwhile the car owners were worse off. Compared to the third parties, the car owners benefited from the convenient arrangement of the business. Nevertheless, due to its vague legality, it is possible to have negative implications on all parties involved. As such, future research should look at all parties involved in investigating the issues of this car lease swap business, such as relevant government agencies and all other stakeholders.
With advances in medicine, more and more premature infants who require round-the-clock nursing care due to one or more complex medical conditions are able to survive after receiving intensive treatment in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The increased survival rate has resulted in a higher incidence of morbidity that may impose emotional and financial burdens on families, society and the healthcare system. This paper explores the experiences of mothers with premature babies who were admitted to a NICU. A generic qualitative approach was used to gain insights into the effects of the premature baby admission to a NICU through tape recorded semi structured open-ended questions interviews with 17 mothers whose premature babies were admitted to a NICU. Inductive thematic analysis was used to identify, analyse, and report themes and patterns within the data. Qualitative analysis of the descriptive data obtained from 17 mothers identified four major themes and 13 sub themes relating to avoidance, effects of the separation, ceremonies and inadequate preparation. The findings have several implications for practice by care professionals. It can help nurses to develop interventions to prepare mothers to cope with new situations, decreasing stress and psychological problems regarding the admission of their infants to the NICU.
This paper discusses methodological dilemma that arise in qualitative research, specifically in education field. It outlines the broad principles that underpin good qualitative research and the aspects of practice that qualitative researchers should consider when designing, conducting, and disseminating their research. Two primary methodological dilemma are (i) lack of objectivity, and (ii) issue of generalizability in qualitative research. The aim of this paper is to argue the dilemmas and encourage researchers to examine the relevance of qualitative issues to their own research. These dilemmas could be taken as important consideration for others who wish to conduct qualitative research in education.
Starting peace-building in early childhood is crucial as this is the best time to model a harmonious personality as well as exposure to value-based curriculum. Peace-building helps in preventing conflict and violence among peers, at home and in the community. In Malaysia, the elements of moral values such as tolerance, respect and unity are integrated across the National Preschool Curriculum in order to instill the awareness of maintaining peace and unity. This qualitative study aimed to explore the perspectives of the children, parents and teachers regarding peace and peace-building. Instruments in the form of questions were sent to various kindergarten teachers from public and private setting including those from urban and rural areas. Seven preschools responded. Interview of children, parents and teachers were conducted and transcribed through a focal point from each school and sent back to the researchers for analysis. Constant comparative method analysis was used where categories were created. Based on the analysis, children’s perception of peace is predominantly linked to love and orderliness and is within the environment they live in; whereas parents and teachers have more comprehensive and complicated views of peace which is related to harmony and tolerance in a bigger perspective. Children perceived peace-building pragmatically, to them peace-building just happened in everyday living. They perceived cleaning up, helping each other, sharing happiness, listening and cooperating as actions for peace-building. Parents and teachers understood their roles in creating peace for the young children; and unanimously agreed that they must be the role model for the children in creating peace. Parents and teachers believed that the immediate environment children live in must be harmonious, caring, and loving so that they can build up the character of their children who will love and practice peace in their own life. Methodology of peace building adopted by parents and children were mainly dialogue, negotiation and situational learning.
With the increase of consumers’ privacy concerns and the government-enforced regulations on data protection, it is necessary for organizations to implement Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) to protect consumers’ personal data. PETs refer to any protection in the form of technology. Since employees are the main stakeholders who are directly involved in the PETs implementation and execution process, it is important to understand employees’ perceptions especially those daily tasks involving the process of collecting and processing consumers’ data. Prior literature showed limited research on the effects of PETs implementation through employees’ work process and their perception on the implementation in protection personal data. Hence, the purpose of this research is to explore how PETs adoption affects employees’ work process and their perception. A qualitative single case study was adopted in a telecommunications company in Malaysia. Data were collected through in-depth interviews from nine respondents who were involved in data collecting, data processing and data controlling in their daily tasks. The results showed that employees experience difference levels of change depending on their work nature. The affected areas of change in implementing PETs are workload, communication level and data access. Employees also raised their concerns on vendors’ accountability. This research provides an insight into employees’ perception towards personal data protection based on their experience in implementing PETs. Continuous awareness, updates, monitoring and evaluating of system are perceived as the key to successful PETs implementation in protecting personal data.
Student athletes represent a unique segment of society, having to manage a set of expectations and challenges that are distinct and psychologically demanding. They are expected to achieve the highest level of sporting excellence while also performing well academically. A basic qualitative study was used to gain an understanding of the nature and type of psychological challenges faced, and ways the student athletes successfully managed or was currently managing those challenges. The results entailed two overlapping groups of challenges; internal and external, where internal consisted of emotional strain, expectations from one’s self, balance between sports and studies, and present feelings of regret, while external consisted of issues with their coach, perception of others, and transition to tertiary education. Additionally, there were three ways of managing those challenges namely through problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, and experiential learning. Those three domains are further explored and discussed, with consideration to the local context and the role of individual differences.
The issue in research ethics has been a long-standing problem in the academic world. In qualitative research, most of the studies carried out involve human subjects and require awareness of ethical issues that may arise, such as misconduct in research, plagiarism and authorship disputes. However, the emphasis on this issue has been given little exposure mostly among postgraduate students in Malaysia. This paper will highlight the most common ethical issues that arise in qualitative research studies, why this has happened, and how to overcome these important issues across institutions. In order to discover these issues, the databases Scopus, Google Scholar and Google Search were queried in the searching. The databases were assessed through the criteria of research ethics, research misconduct, and ethical issue in qualitative research from the year 1995 to 2019. The results revealed that there are studies on ethics in qualitative research especially in health and business area but insufficiently addressed in education. Besides, there are also several types of ethical problems in qualitative researches being identified which are commonly engaged by students despite research classes or courses that have been provided. Finally, it is concluded that not only does the research ethics component needs to be clearly addressed in the teaching among postgraduate students when conducting qualitative research, but there is also an urgent need to improve the institution curriculum in the research subject.